Dairy farmers now know that all-important date upon which their compensation will be based under the new federal dairy direct payment program.

Compensation will be distributed to all licensed dairy farmers, based on their Aug. 31, 2019 quota holdings, in proportion to the national quota total as of the same date. A notice was sent to producers last week.

A website was being launched last week to answer producer questions on next steps to receiving their first payment.

A total of $345 million will come out of AAFC’s $1.75 billion program for the first year. The program is administered by the Canadian Dairy Commission. The balance is distributed over the next eight years to help dairy producers who face an estimated up to 20 per cent market loss because of new free trade deals with Europe and the Trans-Pacific countries.

For this first year they can receive the funds in either 2019 or opt to receive them in 2020.

Producers will have to register with a government web-portal and the process will be explained more fully in communications with them in the coming months. It is also detailed in a Q&A document available through AAFC.